Doom 3 Tweak

[k662]

Someone in another forum I post at posted this link. Supposed to help Doom 3 ALOT no matter what card you are running. I JUST bought the game and am going to install now and test it out.



Doom 3 Tweak (http://www.forumplanet.com/planetdoom/topic.asp?fid=5733&tid=1438663&p=1)

[Cyan]

It seems like there is an option like this in every game, and you have to go into the cfg file to change it and/or the console.

That said, why the heck don't they make it part of the options?

ed:

In your DOOM 3 directory, find "DoomConfig.cfg" (x:\Program Files\Doom 3\base). Open DoomConfig.cfg in Notepad.

Find the line:

seta image_cacheMegs "32"

I changed 32 to 96.

Set higher for more ram, 1GB at 256 or 512 (not alot of difference between the two) set 512 at 128 or less. Of course you're free to use more if it still gives you a good boost, those are just the "proven" guidelines at the moment.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

While it works for a lot of people, it doesnt work for everyone, it's also good to experiment with the figure used:, 20, 32, 96 and 128 seem to work well for those with 128mb or less of Video RAM, while 256 is supposedly good for those with 256Mb of VRAM.

Some people have also stated that it does nothing for overall FPS, but helps reduce the stuttering when caching datd during scene changes (such as walking through doors).

Some are also stating the above tweak on its own is useless and needs to following additional values set to work properly:

seta image_useCache "1"

seta image_CacheMinK “20480”

--Jakk:t

[k662]

Ok my review of the tweak.

Just changing the first image_CacheMegs thing did nothing for me. Then I changed the image_Cache setting to '1' and the game wouldnt even load.

Then I changed the seta image_CacheMinK “200” to 20480 and now everything works and it is DEFIENTLY an improvement. I recommend it. Still runs choppy on my system though. I need a new video card. More ram and an upgraded processor wouldnt hurt.

Xp Pro
512mb RAM
GeForce FX 5200 128mb
P4 2.4ghz (only 533 FSB though)

[dragflameson]

Okay, that tweak worked awesome for me! Thx for posting it here.

seta image_cacheMegs "20"

to

seta image_cacheMegs "96"

Mine was at 20! I put it to 96 and wow... I wish you guys would have posted this a day earlier! hehe.

BTW - I didnt change anything but the seta image_cacheMegs line in the cfg file.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Yup, enabling image_cache will dump you clean out of the game immediatley, unless you increase the value for image_cacheminK from its default

--Jakk:t

[dragflameson]

Good thing, I didnt even try messin around with anything else, I dont wanna start screwin everything up ;)

That tweak deff. helps smothen everything out though :)

[dragflameson]

I bet k662 is lovin it right now - playin it for the 1st time :cool:

[k662]

yay its so fun!

edit - and pic of the day goes to me Pic of the Day (http://www.phloganstudios.com/images/doom3_4.jpg)

[DozerLYP]

thanks for the link, this work good. i set the seta image_cacheMegs from 20 to 128 and the seta image_CacheMinK “200” to 20480 and now everything works great. i even set the game on ultra high, and it is super smooth...:r

[dragflameson]

Cool, whats your specs DozerLYP?

[DozerLYP]

i have

AMD 64 FX51
ASUS SK8V
Corsair Twinx 1gig RE 3200LL
BFG 6800GT

and it rocks this game...:D

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Another tweak going around is that of uncompressing the games pak files, while this increases th egames on-disk size massively, for some people it is giving solid performance boosts.

--Jakk:t

[tasty danish]

at the risk of sounding like a noob, how did they go about uncompressing those files?

[Bigjakkstaffa]

You can open them up using winrar or any other compression program, just right click> "Open with..." and select your compression utility of choice from the list

--Jakk:t

[cbh]

Can a GeForce 4 MX440 128MB support this game?

[Bigjakkstaffa]

By the skin of it's pants, yes

--Jakk:t

[dragflameson]

Originally posted by Bigjakkstaffa
By the skin of it's pants, yes lol

It'll be arite, try the tweak ;)

[CrazyCrusher]

does any of these tweaks Hinder Image Quailty?

just a Question B4 I start playing round with it.

[Cyan]

I dont see how uncompressing pak files would degrade image quality in the least,

as far as the other solution, I'm not sure, but I think it has something to do with how much texture (or something) memory is paged to ram on preloading.

I don't see how that could effect IQ as well.

In fact you can argue that they impove IQ because you can use higher settings in game (assuming the tweaks work for you).

[CrazyCrusher]

ye you have a point, I did change my DoomConfig.cfg from 32 to 69 and I most certinly see improvement in FPS from high low 30 up to 42 with action, Im running the game on 1024X768 512MB DDR 3200 P4 2.4 533 FSB overclocked to 3.0 9800 Pro 256 Bit edition R350, I have the card OC'ed to 421 Core memory 721.2 I get a slight chop every now and then but very very mild. is there any other tweaks that could help me improve.

I seen the one jakks just posted about image_CacheMinK, is there any point in me changing this?

[dragflameson]

I dont even know what I'm getting for FPS :eek:

Whats the command?

[CrazyCrusher]

type in the console

timedemo_demo1

hit enter it should run for about 60 secs
:)

[dragflameson]

Thanks.

Eugh I'm only getting 28.7FPS :(

Thats why I need to build my new system soon!!! :D hehe - now I have an excuse (dont feel guilty spending the $$$)

[dragflameson]

Oh BTW - Its

"timedemo demo1"

not

"timedemo_demo1"

:t

[Bigjakkstaffa]

To show FPS during the game, add the follwoing command line argument to your desktop shortcut:

"+com_showfps 1"

(without speech marks)

As for the CacheminK setting, its only needed if you enable image_usecache, as if you enable usage of the image cache but dont increase it's size from the default, the game will fall-over almost immediatley

--Jakk:t

[cbh]

Originally posted by Bigjakkstaffa
By the skin of it's pants, yes

--Jakk:t

Before the game is released, my friends told me that the game won't be played on my PC because my graphics card is totally obselete. :(

[dragflameson]

Not *totally* obselete ;)

It supports "All nVidia GeForce 4MX series"

[tasty danish]

has anybody tried making the cachemink value larger than the previously specified value?
i'm debating doubling the value.
also, jakk or anyone else who'd know, what does cachemink mean?

[dragflameson]

tasty danish, cachemink is:
maximum KB of precompressed files to read at specification time
Check it! (http://doom3.ingame.de/article.php?intID=1278&intTemplate=7&intSite=5)

:t

[Cyan]

At last, a Doom III tweak guide online

http://www.viperlair.com/articles/howto/software/tweakd3/

[Bigjakkstaffa]

There will be another one before long too ;)

--jakk:t

[dragflameson]

Originally posted by Bigjakkstaffa
There will be another one before long too ;)

--jakk:t You writing a private one up for use here at SysOpt, jakk? :D

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Yup

--Jakk:t

[dragflameson]

For real?! hehe

[tasty danish]

i doubled the cachemink value from 20480 to 40960 and got about 1fps in the timedemo.

and yes i run the demo alot to make sure the new results are consistent.

[dragflameson]

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=167550

[Phil2k3]

Do you know if the patch to come will improve performance the way the tweaking has done?

[smokinyoda]

Thanks to the cachemegs tweak I am running high quality 800/600 with a 64 meg G4 MX-440! Who would have thought.
Settings are:
1
128
20480

System is:
2000+ XP
512 mb
MX 440 64 mb

[Happy Joe]

Did the tweeks.. no perceptable differance on my fx5600 (running 440gpu/880mem)
It was worth a try though.
Enjoy!

[Someone Stupid]

If you set the Cachemink to high, it won't cache anything - thus your having to pull everything as needed, which is why you got a blistering 1 FPS, if you set it too low, it will cache too much and also be slow, or just crash if it's way too low. I'm running at 10240 and I get a bit fewer caching stalls than anything lower or higher - it runs better for me than 3074 or 20480 like some have suggested.